Radioactive
by withoutaname
Summary: Scott: He couldn't breathe properly. All he could hear was the thump, thump, thump in his ears. Stiles was missing. Gone, he was completely gone. Stiles: He'd been jogging in the woods. He had hit the ground hard and before he'd fully blacked out he had thought 'oh god, I'm going to die' He'd woken up in a cage in Mexico.


Radioactive

**Act 1**

**Scott**

He couldn't breathe properly. He was gasping as he ran. Leaves cracked under his feet, twigs snapped and all he could hear was the thump, thump, thump in his ears. Scott couldn't feel his fingers. The burn in his lungs, and tightness across his chest were things he hadn't felt since before becoming a werewolf.

Stiles was missing.

Gone, he was completely gone.

Scott skidded to a stop outside Derek's apartment and almost crashed into the door when it was thrown open. He tripped and fell in his efforts to avoid hitting the door.

Derek and Isaac stood in the doorway. They were in beta form and panting.

"He's missing," Scott panted. "Stiles' is gone! We have to find him, now!"

They searched the woods; they followed his scent to where it ended abruptly; the Sheriff filed a missing persons report and set his deputies to the task; Aiden, Ethan and even Peter visited surrounding towns to see if Stiles was there; Danny hacked surveillance footage and found nothing; Deaton tried spells and Chris Argent asked other werewolf hunters across the west coast.

Stiles was nowhere.

**Stiles**

He had been jogging in the woods, not far from the old Hale property, when he'd been shot with a tranquillizer dart. Stiles would know it was a tranquillizer dart too, he'd seen Allison shooting with them enough throughout the years. He wasn't an expert or anything, but he definitely wasn't a complete amateur either.

Stiles had hit the ground hard, tripping over a rock, and before he'd fully blacked out he'd managed to catch a glimpse of a man (an Alpha, really) with dead looking eyes and moustache. His last thought had been 'oh god, I'm going to die'.

Stiles had woken twice, bleary eyed both times, with a headache and a dry throat. All he had been able to remember from both times was the smell of McDonalds and the heat of the car boot he was sure he was in. Stiles had been sure the flaky substance under his cheek and left hand was dried blood.

He'd started having trouble breathing, tried to calm himself before he had a panic attack, but couldn't. He'd passed out.

Stiles had woken up in a cage in Mexico.

Stiles grunted and prayed that the other man would give in. He was tiring, and so was his opponent, who was in his late 50's, overtly malnourished and dirty. Stiles was the same. You weren't fed often at the compound, and when you were, it wasn't much.

Stiles punched the man in the face and heard and felt bone crunch under his hand. The other man dropped to the ground with a cry of pain, and Stiles couldn't feel bad. He hadn't eaten in two days and now he was guaranteed dinner. What he wouldn't do for a burger and some fries.

Stiles walked to the edge of the arena and banged on the metal door. "Let me out," he said in broken Spanish.

The Alpha growled and Stiles averted his eyes, seething inside. He'd learnt early on not to show any sign of challenging the Alphas, he had a permanent scar on his face, stretching from his left eye to his ear and another through his right eyebrow to remind him why you don't challenge an Alpha.

"I think you have another round left in you, friend," the Alpha said in rapid Spanish. The man gestured and his second in command disappeared into the shed and came back a few minutes later with a new fighter.

Stiles yelled and kicked the metal fencing surrounding the arena. The Alpha growled in warning.

"Now, now, be good," he said.

Stiles slammed into the fencing shrieking at the man, throwing his body again and again, snarling and screaming. If he could only kill this man, if only. The man reached through the fencing and grasped Stiles' hand, he jerked Stiles' index finger and Stiles screamed for a different reason.

He pulled his hand back and snapped his finger back into place. It would take months to heal properly.

**Scott**

Scott hadn't wanted to go to college. Not without his best friend. He'd always assumed he and Isaac would go to the community college and Stiles would go to UCLA and they'd see each other on the weekends. At the least every second one Stiles would be home.

But it had been 5 weeks since Stiles had been missing, and there had been no word.

Scott had followed Stiles scent in the forest until the boarder of the old Hale house where Stiles' scent just disappeared. Deaton had said an Alpha had to be involved. Derek and Peter had compiled a list of every Alpha in the country that they knew of, and had slowly contacted them all.

No one had heard of a Stiles being kidnapped and every Alpha had been telling the truth. Scott had sent every wolf in his pack to double check in person.

The point was, Scott had never imagined this moment to not include his best friend. His acceptance or rejection letters to college had arrived. Lydia had squeezed Scott's hand before opening her own letters and no one had commented on the utter despair emanating from her. The entire pack had gathered at Scott's house and had congregated in the living room to open their letters.

They had agreed, before Stiles' was kidnapped, that everyone would apply to all the same Universities if they could. Lydia had been unmovable in her desire to apply for Harvard. Danny and Jackson (who had skyped Scott and said he was coming back to the states) had also applied.

They had all been accepted.

Allison had applied for Berkley and been accepted.

Scott had felt relieved that everyone would have pack with them, no matter where they were. Danny, Jackson and Lydia would have each other and Allison would be close enough that she would be protected.

No one had opened Stiles' letters of acceptance.

The thought of doing so had hurt too much and Lydia's hands had shaken as she handed them to Scott. Scott hadn't found he just didn't have the courage.

"I don't think I can do this without him," he had said.

Later that night, the Sheriff opened all the letters.

Stiles' had been offered a place at UCLA.

**Sheriff Stilinski**

His son was gone. His baby boy, the only real part of Claudia he had left was missing.

John Stilinski had lived through many things in his life. He had lived through first love, first heartache, he'd lived through University and his parents deaths. He had survived his own wife's death, alcoholism, a hyperactive son he had no way to comfort and the supernatural.

He had lived through Stiles lying to him, and having to become medicated and the heartache Stiles had tried to hide from being ignored by his first love for over 10 years.

John should have been dealing with the stress of his only child moving away for university where John couldn't look out for him, and living alone for the first time in 18 years. He should have been worrying himself sick over whether or not Stiles had his pillow or was going to his classes and not sassing the teachers. That's how it was supposed to be.

Goddamn it, he had survived and lived through so much in his life, but he wasn't sure he could survive this. The house was just so empty, and he felt hollow.

Parents are not meant to outlive their children.

**Scott**

Scott worked two days a week and attended classes the other days. He hung out with Cora and Allison (on every second weekend). He even sometimes hung out with Derek and Peter. The twins were living at his house, so Scott saw them constantly.

It wasn't the same. They weren't Stiles. No one understood Scott the same way Stiles' had, no one else had the same ease of friendship, ability to make him laugh and groan in annoyance. Lydia said that came with over 12 years of being best friends and Scott ignored the wistful note in her voice. She wouldn't want anyone to say anything, and Scott found it tragic that it was Stiles loss that made her truly notice him.

Scott missed him more because of it.

He continued to search for his missing best friend.

The pack changed and grew around the gaping hole of Stiles.

The twins moved into the spare bedroom Isaac used to sleep in, and Isaac and Scott started sharing his room. The twins, so scared of being kicked out, had become the unofficial chefs, cleaners and gardeners for his mom. They even paid rent and Scott pretended not to see the millisecond of utter fear on their faces whenever someone yelled.

Scott nearly cried when Isaac and the twins feared his anger.

Peter started dating a lovely beta from the L.A pack. Derek finally got a job and Lydia, Danny and Jackson were halfway across the country together. Allison and Isaac finally started dating and Scott had no one to talk to about it because no one was Stiles.

It was three months later and Stiles was still gone.

**Stiles**

It had been Stiles' 25th kill when he was offered the bite, and by offered, he means that it went like this: he'd broken the girl's neck, he'd been hauled off her body and thrown into the house, he'd been held down as the Alpha bit him and then he'd been pushed into the basement and into a cell.

He'd cried for the girl he'd killed and not cared that the guard had obviously thought he was weak. Her name had been Julie. She had been taken from New Mexico, and she had had a 5 year old son left with his grandparents.

The bite had healed over night, and Stiles' had seriously considered killing himself.

Stiles was thrown from the humans arena into the beta arena the next full moon. He only just survived and his wounds healed overnight. He didn't remember the night of the full moon, and he didn't want to. The haunted look in his eyes when he used the window down the hall as a mirror, told him that whatever had happened, it had been bad.

Stiles fought twice more over the next week. He ripped the throat out of one of the Alpha's favourite betas, and he didn't feel sorry. Physically sick, yes, but not remorseful; he couldn't be. He had a plan and it included the condition of as few beta's loyal to the Alpha as possible.

He talked it over with Sam, a Mexican girl from the capital who was 16 and beautiful and had become like Stiles' sister. She knew her part and spread the details to all betas that were considered trustworthy.

"Do you think it will work?" Sam whispered one afternoon after Eric was brought back to his cell and Adam wasn't. Adam had been an Alpha sympathizer; no one cried for him.

"It has to," Stiles replied.

Eric fell on his bed and started massaging his calf muscles. "Who is going to be the one to do it, to deliver the final blow to the Alpha?"

"Winston," Stiles said. Winston, across the mini corridor agreed. "He has the most experience as a beta, and he wants it."

"I'm glad it's not me," Sam mumbled. "I couldn't be like him."

"You won't," Stiles promised. "My alpha back home, he's my best friend." And Stiles told everyone, for the 6th time, about Scott and the rest of the Beacon Hill pack, who, if they could send a message somehow, would come and help them. If anyone heard his heart racing or smelt his despair, they were too polite to say anything.

**Scott**

He had almost passed out when he felt his bond with Stiles snap. The pack had been training in the woods, a game of hide and seek followed by capture the flag (childish, but effective) when a part of Scott's mind had twisted away and burned. He had roared. The pain had been excruciating.

Derek, surprisingly, had wept and been almost more inconsolable than Scott.

No one had ever realised he'd felt so strongly for Stiles.

"He's like, was, was like, a… something. He was something to me," he had said later in the safety of the dark.

Scott had just pulled Derek onto the bed and hugged him. Isaac had joined on Scott's other side and a stereotypical puppy pile had formed on Peter's king sized bed.

The pack left it to Scott and Isaac to tell his mom and the Sheriff. The Sheriff cried, threw bottles of alcohol and had to be sedated by his mom.

"He has been expecting it," she said. "But you're never ready to hear that a loved one is dead."

Scott buried himself in her arms and cried for an hour. His mom cried with him and said that it would be okay, they'll be okay, it has to be okay. It wouldn't be though, Scott decided. Cora once said that losing a member of the pack is worse than losing a member of your family. Scott hadn't understood then, but he did now, and it was not going to be okay.

The Harvard triplets caught the first flight home and the pack spent a week mourning at Scott's house before they had to return for assessment week and work. Lydia had nearly not gone back, but she'd been so perfectly put together the entire week, Scott could only assume she'd shatter completely if she stayed any longer. Finally it was Jackson that convinced her to go back with him and Danny, by convincing her Stiles would be so upset if she didn't win that damn Nobel Peace Prize.

Lydia had smiled weakly and gone.

Peter pulled through for the pack and made sure everyone was feed and hydrated during the week. Derek kept the Sheriff company and no one knew what they talked about, just that when the week was over the Sheriff hugged Derek and thanked him. Derek visited the Sheriff often after that.

The pack was broken in the way only losing a member could break it. While still a pack, everyone was distant towards each other until the next full moon. They met in the woods, but spent the night howling their loss and whimpering. The moon after that, and after that, was the exact same.

The outline of Stiles couldn't be filled.

**Stiles**

Stiles had known it would be hard to fulfil their plan. He hadn't known it would be this hard to kill the Alpha. They had tried once, and Winston had been killed, but so had three of the Alphas favourite betas.

Sam had been badly injured, but Stiles' and Eric were okay. They had become the only three betas left in the basement. Three others had been killed, taking the count to 7 and leaving the Alpha with only 2 betas loyal to him. Stiles had thought he'd be free, or dead, either one was appealing to him, by the time 7 months had passed.

And it had been 7 months. He'd been in Mexico for 7 months, and he was not closer to getting home.

Stiles had become angry when the Alpha made him fight against Eric. It had been two days after Winston had been killed and the failed attack and Stiles had snapped. He'd pulled on something inside himself and broken the metal door, slashing the throat of the first beta near him.

Eric had followed and together they had killed the second beta, who was still injured from the first attempt. The Alpha had roared and Stiles had roared back and for longer. Eric had run, and Stiles hadn't found out until later that Eric had run to free Sam.

Stiles had pounced on the Alpha and been knocked back three times before he caught the smell of mountain ash. Deaton's voice saying Stiles' was a spark had whispered across the back of his neck and Stiles had imagined the Alpha being impaled by the mountain ash.

As Stiles had imagined it, so had it happened.

Stiles limped towards the Alpha, whose name he still didn't know, and pushed the mountain ash in further. Stiles heard Eric and Sam enter the room, and he paused and turned to them.

"Which of us should do it?" he asked through a broken jaw.

"Not me," Sam said straight away. "I can't, I just can't!"

"Eric?"

"No," Eric answered. "I don't want the responsibility and I don't think I would be a good Alpha. You've been around a proper Alpha before, Stiles. You should do it, you know how a real pack should work."

Stiles shook with fear and tried to take calming breaths. "I don't know if I can do this right," he finally said. "I have to do this though, don't I?"

Sam nodded and she reminded Stile's of Erica so much that he wasn't surprised to feel wetness on his checks. He took a couple more deep breaths and as quick as the Kanima, ripped out the Alphas throat. The transformation was almost instantaneous. Stiles growled and the power behind it was immensely greater than before.

He turned to Eric and Sam and saw his red eyes in the window as he did. He growled once more and stopped abruptly at the terrified look on Sam's face. 'She doesn't know what I'm doing', Stiles thought.

"You need to submit," he explained. "That's what the roaring is. It's a demand that you both submit and accept me as your new alpha."

"Oh," Eric said. "Alright then." He averted his eyes and bared his neck at Stiles. After a moment Sam did the same and Stiles was officially the alpha of the pair. He'd never felt such a burden on his shoulders, nor so terrified of fucking up so completely. He couldn't be like Peter, or Derek, or the Alpha of Mexico. He needed to be like Scott – supportive, understanding, moral and full of love.

How he missed his best friend.

**Act 2**

**Derek**

Derek had heard rumours of a human and werewolf fighting rings throughout his travels for years. He had never considered that he'd visit one in Toronto, or that he would call the local hunters in disgust. He had never considered helping the hunters to kill the werewolves in charge, and he had absolutely never considered that maybe he would come away from the fighting ring with a three year old attached to his hip.

Derek had always liked kids; he had even babysat a few times in Beacon Hills before the fire. So when Sarah had attached herself to his leg and had clung to his neck for an hour, Derek had figured he might be stuck with her.

Not that she was a bad kid to be stuck with. Derek had just never had to care for a child the same way he had to care for Sarah. He'd been too little when Cora was born, and uninterested when Ryan had been born. Feeding a child and watching a few cartoons with them had been the extent of his babysitting days.

Sarah, though, she had not left Derek's side for two weeks. He had even had to leave the door open slightly when he had gone to the toilet. Derek did not know how to deal with an emotionally traumatised child, but he had to try.

He'd become attached, and so had Sarah, and Derek had hoped Scott would welcome her with open arms. He had. For the first time since Stiles had gone missing, Derek had felt happiness.

When he introduced Sarah to the Sheriff, Derek felt his happiness swell at the smile on the Sheriff's face when Sarah called him Grandpa.

**Scott**

The call came at 3pm during the summer break, a little over 8 months since Stiles had gone missing. Scott was alone when he answered and he couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

"Scott," someone breathed through the phone. "It's me."

"Stiles?"

Scott's heart pounded and he gasped. He heard Stiles sob and murmur 'I'm okay,' to someone on the other end.

"Yeah, buddy, it's me. Can you come and get us?" Scott was already pulling on his clothes and running to the kitchen to find his mum's keys before his best friend even finished his sentence.

"Where are you?"

Stiles whispered.

"Where the hell is Yuma?"

**Jackson**

McCall had called him at 3.07 on a Tuesday night and demanded his help with something he had deemed vital. Jackson hadn't been sure what would could as vital to McCall at that time of night, but he hadn't refused his Alpha.

He had run to McCall's house, duffle bag in hand along with his credit card. He had barely paused before throwing himself into the front seat of Melissa's car and strapping himself in before McCall had pulled out of the drive way and they'd driven off.

"So, McCall, what's the emergency?"

Jackson had tapped his fingers along the dashboard and tried not to strangle his Alpha for being an arsehole. He had reasoned, though, it had to be something very important if McCall was calling him for help, rather than anyone else in the pack.

"Stiles just called me," McCall had answered, his heart had skipped all over the place and his eyes had flashed red. Jackson had swallowed and understood exactly why McCall had invited him along this impromptu road trip.

"Where's he been at?" Jackson had asked instead of the millions of other questions bouncing around his head.

McCall had shaken his head and muttered that he didn't know. He had then proceeded to tell Jackson his every worry, concern, fear and anxiety of Stiles wellbeing and the wellbeing of the pack once they found out Stiles was alive.

"What's this going to do to his dad?" McCall had lamented and Jackson had snapped at him to 'shut up!'

McCall had growled and Jackson growled right back. "Who cares? At the moment, no one else matters. Stiles is alive, but he's probably not doing too well. Yuma is right near the border. Who knows what the hell has happened to him since he's been gone."

"I knew you cared," McCall had said in reply and Jackson had rolled his eyes and turned towards the window to sleep.

When they had arrived in Yuma Scott had taken a seemingly random turn off and navigated them to someplace called Mittry Lake. He had parked the car and sat in the driver's seat for approximately two minutes before Jackson had had enough.

Jackson had breathed deeply through his nose, climbed out of the car and slammed his door shut. He had walked, not stomped, to the driver's side and practically pulled McCall out of the car. He'd slapped his Alpha and enjoyed the thrill it had given him at defying McCall.

"Pull yourself together," Jackson had snapped. "Where is he?"

"Get off me," McCall had snarled back. "He said he'd meet up here."

Jackson gestured around them and raised his eyebrows pointedly. "Then where the hell is he?"

**Stiles**

He never understood the pressure Scott was always under until he became Alpha of Eric and Sam. In a way it was almost harder to be free from the Mexican Alpha than when he'd been stuck in the cages. He knew he was technically free, he didn't have to fight for his food anymore, except that he kind of did.

The first week out of the complex Stiles nearly lost Sam to hunters, the second week they had scammed half of the money needed to buy a lift to the boarder, by the third Sam was healed and Eric was silent, by the fourth they were able to buy passage and near the end of the fifth week they were at the American border.

Stiles and Sam plotted for three days, miserable days with rain and too little food and way too little sleep. They established when they could slip past the guards and finally managed it during a very handy distraction Stiles had orchestrated at the checkpoints. It had only cost him nearly all of their leftover cash.

The second they were back on American soil, Eric called his wife and she flew down to meet him and they flew home. Stiles warned Eric of hunters, right before his wife arrived for their tearful and frankly, quite beautiful reunion. He made Eric promise to find another pack, and to call if he ever needed help.

Eric promised and pledged an alliance between himself and Stiles, commenting that he was hopeful his new pack would accept the alliance. Stiles hugged his former beta and swore, in English and Spanish, that the McCall pack would always be his ally.

Eric boarded the plane and didn't look back, and Stiles got it, he really did. He never wanted any reminders of his time in Mexico, and he had a family waiting for him as well. It still hurt though, that he lost a beta so early, so easily.

Sam comforted him, told him that Eric was never going to stay around, and was hardly a part of the pack anyway, that he was alive because of Stiles, and that Eric would never forget that. Stiles cuddled the shit out of her that night, and thanked whatever god existed that he still had her at the least.

Stiles called Scott an hour later.

**Scott**

He'd been terrified of meeting Stiles again. What had happened in the 8 and a half months he'd been gone? How would Scott relate to him now? What if Stiles had PTSD or something? Isaac had done a couple of psychology subjects – he'd told Scott all about PTSD, and it did not sound fun.

What if Stiles was different?

What if they were no longer brothers?

Jackson had pulled him out of the car at that point and backhanded him. Scott had been reminded of the exact reason he'd wanted Jackson to come with him for this. The guy wouldn't give him any sugar coated bullshit, he'd lay it out exactly how it was and not get pulled under by all the emotions Scott was feeling.

"He's probably not here yet," Scott had finally said. "We should just wait here for him." Then Scott had caught a scent on the air, and it had smelt like Stiles, but different.

He'd turned towards where he could hear the river flowing and used his eyes to see the two dark shadows moving towards him. Stiles had stepped out from the tree lines and had walked slowly, so very slowly closer and closer to Scott. There had been a latina girl at his side and they had murmured in Spanish as they came closer.

"Hey Scotty," Stiles had said and that had been it.

Scott had run towards his best friend and pulled him into the tightest hug they'd ever shared. The girl had growled and Stiles had growled back and Scott had suddenly got it.

"You're a wolf?"

Jackson had followed and awkwardly hugged Stiles with one arm, even as Stiles had still been mashed against Scott's chest. Stiles had laughed and cried and eventually his knees had given out and the girl had run forward, shouting in Spanish and pulled Stiles from Scott.

Scott had never felt so helpless and so he only crouched in front of Stiles and noticed what had the girl so panicked. Stiles eyes were red.

**Act 3**

**Isaac**

It's a bit of a shock to him. Waking up and finding Stiles and a random girl in Scott's bed. Scott and Jackson are seated on the floor and Aidan and Ethan are standing in the doorway. Scott's been crying, Isaac can tell straight away. He can taste salt on the air.

"Stiles is back?" Isaac whispers.

Jackson nods and tilts his head back. "He's an Alpha now," he says with an accompanying eye roll.

"What?" Isaac has some trouble processing that, as Stiles had always been the one in the group who had never wanted to bite.

Scott grunts and Isaac looks down at his bed spread.

"How does having two Alphas in the pack work?" He feels terrified asking. He can't imagine Stiles still being alive, but not in their pack. Scott mutters something and Jackson snorts.

"Co-Alphas? Really McCall?" Jackson laughs again and Ethan growls a warning at him. Isaac laughs at the affronted look on Jackson face.

He scratches the back of his head. "Really though," he says, "How is it going to work now?"

"I could give up my Alpha powers," Stiles mutters and the girl whimpers and crowds into his space even closer than she had been. She and Stiles say a few things in Spanish and Stiles stretches and he has scars on his stomach and hips that haven't ever been there before.

The door downstairs slams against the wall and the next second Derek is in the room throwing himself on the bed and nuzzling again Stiles shoulder.

**Stiles**

Stiles laughed and patted Derek's shoulder and tried not to feel weird that a really big dude who he thought hated him was now snuggling with him and Sam.

Sam growled and spat insults and Stiles laughed when Derek replied, Spanish nearly perfect and Scott's jaw gaping in surprise.

"Since when do you speak Spanish?"

"I have a linguistics major with a minor in literature from University, Stiles. Plus, Laura and I spent a lot of time in Mexico before we came back here," Derek said in Spanish.

Sam smiled and asked him "Is it okay for us to be here? Stiles says it is, but the others are sad."

Derek translated to the rest of the pack and Stiles stretched again. Before anyone could reply to Derek's translation, Derek ripped Stiles shirt up and Stiles squawked and swiped at him with a claw. Scott growled and Stiles bared his neck in submission and the tension in the room slowly dissipated.

"I know where you've been," Derek finally said to the room at large, in English and then again in Spanish for Sam and Stiles sat up and pulled Sam with him.

He folded his body around hers and ignored how awkward the whole situation should be but kind of wasn't. 7 mostly half naked dudes in the one room with an underage non English speaking girl, it'd be enough to arrest all of them.

"Yeah?" Stiles challenged. "Where?"

Derek stared Stiles down and it was only Scott's cough that broke the tension. Sam whimpered and Stiles ran a hand over her hair and flashed his eyes at Derek. Derek chocked in shock and turned to Scott with wide eyes.

At Scott's nod Derek continued.

"A fighting ring, human and wolf I'm guessing, because you're now a wolf. Somewhere in Mexico from everything else we know," he said with a cringe.

Stiles nodded and squared his jaw. He'd learnt some pretty interesting things about himself while he'd been away, and one thing was that he could be a scary, badass mother fucker unafraid to go for the jugular if need be. He wouldn't let himself be intimidated by anyone in the room. Except maybe Scott, because he wanted Scott to accept him and Sam into the pack again, and he could feel how weak that particular bond was.

"We never knew the Alphas name," he finally said after he thought everyone had had enough time for it to sink in where he'd been and what exactly he'd been doing. "But we killed him, eventually. I promised Sam we'd be able to join the McCall pack and that we'd be safe. And no, I don't want or need to talk about it. It's bad enough living through it once," he finished.

Scott stood and left the room.

**Scott**

He doesn't look at Stiles for 3 days after he and Sam are picked up. He misses his best friend but he's trying to figure out how to have 2 Alphas and keep the pack in order at the same time.

He will be crushed, shattered and irreparable if he has to kill Stiles, if his instincts, his wolf, don't accept Stiles as pack. Everyone else will be too, and Scott feels that on his shoulders. He feels Isaacs's questions, Derek's anger, Sam's confusion, Cora's weariness and he knows Lydia and the Sheriff and his mom would never forgive him if things don't turn out okay.

He's starting to think there is no way it's possible for 2 Alphas to co-exist when Peter, who heard of Stiles return from some unidentifiable source, presents the solution. He tells Scott, Derek and Stiles the theory behind the Alpha pack they had defeated so many years ago, and Scott feels hope

He knows Stiles is impatient to see his dad. They decided that before Stiles and Sam can see his dad, or meet Sarah, who Derek spent hours the other day talking to Sam in Spanish about, they first needed to sort out the pack hierarchy. It takes a long time for everyone to understand how the new pack order would be if Stiles doesn't win and submits. And it feels to Scott as though they're wasting time.

Finally, he can't stand to wait anymore. Stiles is projecting sadness and impatience to everyone within a 100 feet radius. So four days after Scott received the phone call, despite Allison and Jackson still not understanding how two Alphas in one pack will work, he and Stiles fight for dominance out near the old Hale house.

**Sam**

She doesn't know how to talk to anyone but Stiles or Derek, and she understands from Derek that the fight for Alpha is an old tradition. She doesn't care about that; she just wants Stiles to live. She doesn't even care if he's not her Alpha, he will always be her Saviour.

She thinks Eric is a fool for leaving the pack, she knows how much it hurt Stiles. She has heard him mention Eric when he talks to Derek and Scott and the sadness all three felt. She would never leave Stiles. She has a debt that needs to be paid to him, and he is the only family she has left. Until Stiles place in the McCall pack is established, he is the only pack she has left too.

She stands silently next to Derek and a woman called Cora, who also speaks Spanish with a beautiful accent, and silently hopes that everything will work out. She prays to God and asks him to bless her and Stiles entrance into the pack with little bloodshed and great warmth. She is on her fourth Hail Mary when Scott and Stiles start the fight.

It was over quite quickly, even though Stiles and Scott fought ferociously. Stiles was still weak and tired and malnourished from their time in the cages and their journey into America. It was not expected he would win, and Sam was just thankful he was not gravelly injured.

She ran forward the second the fight was over and Stiles was on his feet again and threw her arms around Stiles neck. She felt the other wolves tense around her and Stiles reprimanded her.

"You need to submit to Scott before you run at us like that, little one," he said quietly.

"He's my Alpha now? What are you?" She asked. She'd been a werewolf longer than Stiles but she had never been around a proper pack before. She didn't understand how the dynamic worked. In Mexico, she was to respect those older than her. Here, she thought that meant the man called Peter would be the Alpha, but Scott is the Alpha, and he's only about 4 years older than her.

Stiles said something to Scott and Scott nodded in understanding, but Sam didn't understand.

"I'm Scott's second in command. It's like how you were to me, and Eric was like everyone else," Stiles tried to explain.

"Eric left though," Sam said sadly.

"I know, little one," Stiles said. He beckoned for Cora to join them and the woman did quickly, Derek at her heels.

Stiles said something again in English and Sam crossed her arms in front of her body, angry that she couldn't speak English, and that Stiles wouldn't speak Spanish to the only other two people here that could.

"What?" She snapped at him. "What are you talking about?"

Cora glared at Stiles and Sam did nothing to defend him like she usually would. Cora said "Stiles just asked me to explain the hierarchy of the McCall pack to you. Here, we don't go by age, it's not by experience, it's by the individuals qualities. Stiles is the second in command," Cora said as she rolled her eyes.

"It means, whatever Scott says, you do it. If Stiles tells you to do something that is in direct conflict with something Scott has told us to do, you still do what Scott says. If Scott is out of town visiting his father, for example, then you do what Stiles says until Scott comes back," Derek explained succinctly.

"Thank you," Sam said. "That was helpful."

Sam turned and looked at her new Alpha. His eyes glowed red and she felt immediate fear before she pushed it aside and, her eyes surely glowing blue, she tilted her head and averted her gaze. She felt something inside her tug and clutched her chest.

"It's the pack bond," Cora whispered as Stiles whopped.

Stiles grabbed Sam around her hips and lifted her in the air and spun in several circles shouting in both English and Spanish and howling. He then lowered her, kissed her cheek and pulled Scott into an awkward hug with his arm around Scott's neck and kissed Scott's cheek and Scott smiled and laughed and howled with him.

**Sheriff Stilinski**

He'd nearly had a heart attack, when a few days ago Scott had called him from outside some who-gives-a-fuck-sized town with the news.

His son was alive.

His baby boy was alive, but not very well and a werewolf and Scott was going to bring him home.

John took off an entire two weeks of sick leave from work and told anyone and everyone who would listen that his son had been found. No one believed him until his son walked into the precinct with John, a Mexican girl followed behind them and suddenly everyone was hugging Stiles and smiling for their Sheriff.

Stiles came home on a Saturday morning and John was not afraid to admit to tears and swearing and hugging for an hour and speaking very bad Spanish to Sam. Sam smiled anyway, although John was sure he was making no sense and repeated thank you, over and over when she was shown her room.

Stiles immediately started cooking for John and telling him the short version of what had happened. He had to stop many times when something was too painful or he couldn't think of the right way to word it. John had to stop him many times when something was too much for him to believe had happened to his child.

His child, his Stiles, was safe again and John sent a quick thought to Claudia. Their son had all of her strength, he told her. Thank you, for protecting him, he said to her.

Sam pressed her rosary beads into his hands and closed his fingers over them. He nodded at her and held them tight while Stiles and Sam argued about something he didn't know, but could guess was the chicken.

Melissa arrived later that night, as did most of the rest of the pack including Chris Argent, and there was more hugging and storytelling of the past year. Sam and Stiles didn't contribute much to that portion of the evening other than to ask questions and translate for the other.

It was surreal to see Derek introduce Sarah to Stiles and Sam, and see Stiles reaction to Derek calling John Sarah's Granddad. It was beautiful to hear Stiles tease Scott about a girl called Kira who had just moved to town, and seeing the twins and Jackson wrestle. John felt so extremely lucky when Stiles turned to him and mouthed 'I love you', he stood and found another bottle of beer to hide his tears.

John sat the entire night with a smile on his face and the rosary beads in his pocket. He promised Claudia, and Sam's parents, he would never let anything like that happen to them again.

**Epilogue**

**Stiles**

He waits for her to reply to his messages, but she never does. Stiles isn't sure what that means, and he's still to mentally fractured to figure it out. Except he just wishes he knew why she wouldn't respond.

He tries to watch the movie and listen to Sarah ramble on about clown fish to her favourite Uncle Stiles, (and wasn't that a shock the first time Derek referred to Stiles as his brother!) but his mind is just not with it. He misses her. She's the one thing he never left himself think of the entire time he was away. It was too painful and he'd missed her too much to function.

She'd never paid attention to him during school, but during the summer before his Senior year, and during Senior year, they'd started to become real friends. At least Stiles had thought so. He thinks maybe she stays away now because she's heard about what he's done, about how he's killed people.

He doesn't blame her.

Hell, if he was her, he'd be annoyed at him. The minute Stiles had a phone he'd asked Allison to text Lydia his number and give him Lydia's number as well. Allison had and Stiles had called every night for a week since. He'd texted her many times during the day, but she had yet to respond to anything.

He's surprised then, when he hears her heartbeat.

When he smells her perfume, a few seconds before she rings the door bell, he is at the door quicker than anyone else. He can feel their eyes on his back and hear Sam asking who it is in her slow English. He hesitates though, and counts to 3 before he opens the door to her.

He drinks in her prefect red hair, and beautiful green eyes and doesn't even try to smile because he knows he looks like shit and a smile would probably scare her away. As bad as he looks though, she looks worse, if that's at all possible.

She isn't wearing makeup, she hasn't brushed her hair, her clothes don't match and are too big on her fragile frame, but it's her eyes that really do it. Everything else, she will never look as beautiful to him as she does when she isn't made up with her persona of perfection. Her eyes are sad though, with dark circles underneath and she is starting to cry and Stiles bends down and buries his face in her hair and hugs her and she hugs him back and gasps out apologies.

He moves them to the hallway, slams the door shut and whispers to her.

"It's okay," he says and ignores the crack in his voice. "It's okay, I've got you. I've got you."

"I'm so sorry," she whispers back. "I didn't realise in time, and then you were gone and I missed you," she says. "I missed you, and I was so scared to see you again," she sobs.

Stiles brushes the hair from her face and kisses her forehead. "I missed you, so much," he says. "I love you," he says, and Lydia hits him. "Ouch," he says out of reflex. "Too soon?" he asks, although he knows the answer.

She hums. "Just a little bit," Lydia says through a beautiful smile. "I have so much to tell you," she says.

Stiles nods and holds her closer. "I can't wait to hear everything. I want to tell you everything, but some of it is, it's really bad. I'm not sure I can share everything with anyone about my time gone," he says to her.

"You don't have to," she replies.

Stiles shakes his head and tells her, "I want to. I just…"

"It's okay," she says. After a moment of silence, Stiles is broken from his thoughts as Lydia hands him a sealed envelope. "I made your dad promise I could give it to you," she says.

Stiles frowns and frowns even more when he reads the nearly year old letter inside. "Since when did I accept and then defer my enrolment at UCLA?" he mutters. From somewhere in the living room behind him, he hears a whoop from Scott and can feel some kind of smugness rolling of Peter.

"I helped Peter accept for you and defer a year," she explains. "We were feeling hopeful. I'm so proud of you," she says tearfully. And then she drags his head down and kisses him sweetly and softly and Stiles smiles a genuine smile when they walk back into the living room.

**Lydia**

When Stiles wakes her with another of his nightmares, 2 years later, she gently holds him and whispers in Spanish to him.

"It's okay, I've got you. I love you," she finally confesses and he holds her tighter. He falls asleep again quickly and when he wakes, Lydia is still in his arms.

* * *

Disclaimer: Any characters, settings or plot lines or any other content recognisable to Teen Wolf, belongs to the writes/producers/etc of Teen Wolf. I own nothing.

Authors Note: I know the tense changes throughout the entire story. That is intentional. I was trying to create this feeling of some characters being able to move forwards in their lives, while others can't. I'm not sure if I actually succeeded. Thanks for reading, and any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


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